dog grooming
Now that the weather is routinely warm enough to sit outdoors (Just 4 weeks ago they postponed the bike-traffic count because of heavy snow.), it's time to shave the dog. Poodles don't shed, so if you don't cut the hair off, it keeps accumulating. I figure it's an asset in the winter, but the rest of the year I don't think you want to go everywhere in a heavy, black coat.
anniemal is the one with dog-grooming experience, but I can get most of the hair off the broad expanse of the body, and leave her the more delicate areas - head, crotch, feet; and she likes to do interesting things with the tail. His present state is something in between those two pictures. I think this is the first time I've done his whole body in one sitting. He usually gets pretty fidgety, so we'd usually take a break after 20-30 minutes and pick it up later or the next day. (The clippers get hot too, and that lets them cool down.) But this time we just slogged on through. He was actually being pretty cooperative some of the time, rolling over and even holding his legs out of the way.
anniemal is the one with dog-grooming experience, but I can get most of the hair off the broad expanse of the body, and leave her the more delicate areas - head, crotch, feet; and she likes to do interesting things with the tail. His present state is something in between those two pictures. I think this is the first time I've done his whole body in one sitting. He usually gets pretty fidgety, so we'd usually take a break after 20-30 minutes and pick it up later or the next day. (The clippers get hot too, and that lets them cool down.) But this time we just slogged on through. He was actually being pretty cooperative some of the time, rolling over and even holding his legs out of the way.